Trump and Vance make anti-LGBTQ+ attacks a centerpiece of the campaign

Author: BILL BARROW

ATLANTA (AP) — Donald Trump put his opposition to transgender rights at the center of his final speech before Election Day, using demeaning language and false statements to portray an extremely narrow segment of the U.S. population as a threat to national identity.

The former president and Republican candidate campaign and affiliated political action committees have spent tens of millions of dollars on ads attacking the Democratic nominee and vice president Kamala Harris for his previous statements in support of transgender rights.

His speeches at rallies have now featured a fake video mocking transgender people and their place in the US military. installation, interspersed with clips Vietnam War film “Full Metal Jacket” usually draws loud boos at its rallies, as does Trump false claims about female athletes and him a mocking impression from what she claims, she’s a transgender woman lifting weights.

“We will eliminate… transgender craze the f*** out of our schools and keep men out of women’s sports,” Trump said at a recent event Rally at Madison Square Gardendrawing an approving roar from the crowd of over 20,000.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump watches a video of his speech during a campaign event at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

His running mate, J.D. Vance, alleged Thursday that “middle-class or upper-middle-class” white teenagers may identify as transgender to more easily get into elite universities. In doing so, Vance invoked conservative anger over affirmative action and other programs targeting historically disenfranchised groups.

“Is there a phenomenon where if you become trans, it’s a way of rejecting your white privilege?” Vance said in an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan. “That is the only social meaning, the only meaning that is available in the hyper-awake mindset, is that you become gender non-binary.”

Though often overshadowed by his emphasis on migrants, Trump’s anti-LGBTQ attacks appear to be growing more frequent and ominous in the final days of the campaign, aimed both at riling up his core supporters and winning over votes from more moderate voters who may not connect with Trump on other issues. matters. It’s part of an overall campaign in which Trump has recently been promoting his own brand of hypermasculinity referring several times for CNN to present Anderson Cooper, who is gay, under the feminine name “Allison Cooper.”

Harris largely ignored Trump’s attacks, but stopped short of characterizing her position, noting that during Trump’s presidency there was federal policy in place to provide U.S. military personnel with access to gender-affirming medical care and transgender surgery.

“I will obey the law,” Harris said in an Oct. 17 interview with Fox News. “And this is a law that Donald Trump actually followed. You’re probably already familiar. “This is a public report that shows that under Donald Trump, these surgeries were available to people in the federal prison system based on medical necessity.”

Earlier this week on “The Breakfast Club” podcast, she added that Trump “lives in a glass house” with his attacks. She compared the number of people involved: She said two U.S. soldiers applied for transgender surgery, and millions of people could be stripped of health insurance if Trump and Republicans succeed in repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Polls show that the electorate is divided on the issue of transgender rights. According to a Gallup poll from May. According to the survey, about 7 in 10 Americans say transgender athletes should be allowed to compete only on sports teams that match their gender at birth. 2023 Gallup Poll. However, according to the survey, about 6 in 10 Americans oppose laws banning medical treatments and procedures that help transgender people adjust to their gender identity. Gallup poll from May. About a third support such bans.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Rocky Mount Event Center, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, Rocky Mount, N.C. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Meanwhile, civil rights advocates are expressing concern about what a second Trump administration will mean for LGBTQ rights and say his campaign’s message already threatens the safety of transgender people, regardless of who wins.

Trump has he promised a goal transgender people if elected. He said he would ask Congress to pass a law declaring there are “only two sexes” and banning hormonal or surgical interventions on transgender minors in all 50 states.

Sarah Kate Ellis, president of the LGBTQ group GLAAD, said Trump’s approach attacks “vulnerable people,” who make up about 1% of the population “and are already marginalized” by much of society.

“Why are we debating medical care for transgender people? Because there is a lack of understanding and humanization of who transgender people are,” Ellis said. “It’s not easy being transgender, waking up every day in a body that may not match who you are, and instead of being empathetic, you’re met with hostility. This is the culture Trump is creating.”

Writer and activist Charlotte Clymer added on social media platform people see us as subhuman is demoralizing.”

Indeed, since September 1, the Trump campaign has spent about $35 million to air three ads based on statements Harris made in 2019 as the Democratic candidate for the 2020 presidential nomination. The clips show Harris reiterating her support for federal policy enabling federal prisoners have access to medical care, including gender-affirming hormone therapy and potentially transgender surgery.

“It sounds crazy because it is crazy,” says the announcer in the ad, which as of Thursday had aired nearly 28,000 times on the presidential battlegrounds and on national television. “Kamala’s premise is ‘they-them’, not you,” the ad concludes, referring to non-gendered pronouns.

During her 2019 presidential campaign, Harris wrote in an ACLU questionnaire: “I support policies that ensure federal prisoners and detainees can obtain medically necessary gender reassignment care, including surgical care, while in prison or in custody.”

Supporters listen as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Rocky Mount Event Center, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024, in Rocky Mount, N.C. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

She also worked as California’s attorney general to ensure access to such care for state prisoners. Harris is correct, however, to note that similar federal policies were in place during Trump’s presidency, both for detained immigrants and for federal prisoners.

At rallies, Trump often raises LGBTQ issues with generalizations and emotional appeals. He routinely criticizes US military leaders for being “woke,” blaming Harris and President Joe Biden.

The fake video shown on screens at Trump rallies alternates between scenes of intense military training, sometimes with drill sergeants shouting at soldiers, and scenes of supposedly LGBTQ soldiers, each showing exaggerated female affectations. As the video says, these final scenes show the US military under the command of Biden and Harris.

Before Trump takes the stage, many speakers have prepared the audience on the topic.

“We are in the middle of a national identity crisis. Faith in God, patriotism, hard work, family – these things are gone, replaced by ‘wokeness’ and transgenderism and other philosophies, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said at Madison Square Garden. “These are symptoms of a deeper void of purpose and meaning in our country, and now we must step up and fill that void with our own vision.”

Associated Press writer Linley Sanders in Washington contributed to this report.

Originally published: November 1, 2024 at 12:48 PM EDT